Ring gripping tool

ABSTRACT

A ring-gripping tool for holding a finger ring in position for polishing has now been invented. The tool is constructed of a hollow cylindrical tube, one end of which serves as a handle while the opposite end has ring-gripping means. The ring-gripping means comprises a lever disposed within the tube member, pivoted at one end with the tube having a free end beyond an open end of the tube to coact with curved lip projecting from the open end of the tube. The lip and open end of the tube are formed by cutting an angular opening at one end of the tube to leave a portion of the tube as a projection or lip. The free end of the lever means carries a saddle or shoe which is adapted to allow a finger ring to pass over it and the lip member as that forcible adjustment of the free end of the lever away from the lip member securely grips the ring.

United States Patent 1 Dotson 1 1 Feb. 18, 1975 1 i RING GRIPPING TOOL [75] lnventor: George Dotson, Bliss. Idaho [73] Assignee: Dotson and Evans lnc., Bliss. Idaho [22 Filed: Apr. 22, 1974 21 Appl. No.: 462,601

1.067.195 7/1913 Raither 81/72 1.085.571 1/1914 Terney 81/72 2.541713 Z/l95l Schupbach 231/72 Primary Examinerlames L. Jones, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Trask & Britt ABSTRACT A ring-gripping tool for holding a finger ring in position for polishing has now been invented. The tool is constructed of a hollow cylindrical tube, one end of which serves as a handle while the opposite end has ring-gripping means. The ring-gripping means comprises a lever disposed within the tube member. pivoted at one end with the tube having a free end be yond an open end of the tube to coact with curved lip projecting from the open end of the tube. The lip and open end of the tube are formed by cutting an angular opening at one end of the tube to leave a portion of the tube as a projection or lip. The free end of the lever means carries a saddle or shoe which is adapted to allow a finger ring to pass over it and the lip member as that forcible adjustment of the free end of the lever away from the lip member securely grips the ring.

13 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures RING GRIPPING TOOL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Jewelers and others engaged in the lapidary arts have frequent occassion to polish ring stones or the ring on grinding or polishing stones. This has traditionally been done by gripping the ring between the fingers and thumb while holding the ring against a grinding or polishing wheel.

The hand-gripping technique just described has several disadvantages, including the tiresomeness of the procedure if many rings have to be polished at one time, the discomfort and often burns and blisters, resulting from holding hot rings or from frequent contact of the hand with the polishing or grinding wheel, and the unsightly stained appearance of thumb and fingers having polishing agents burnished into the skin.

One technique which has been tried involved a round, elongated member having a gradual, varying diameter from one end to the other. A ring is forced onto the round, elongated member until it is frictionally held in place. Such a technique has a distinct disadvantage inasmuch as excessive force must be used to cause the ring to be gripped sufficiently tight to prevent slippage of the ring during a grinding or polishing operation. The ring must then be forced off the holder by tapping the ring with another tool, which can mar the rings.

DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION A ring-gripping tool for holding a finger ring in posi tion for polishing has now been invented. The tool comprises a hollow cylindrical body member having a small diameter, eg about one-half to five-eighths of an inch, or approximately the diameter of the smallest ladies ring to be held, one end of said cylindrical body member being a handle and the opposite end having an opening and a lip or projection which acts as a portion of the ring-gripping means. A lever member is disposed within the hollow body member. One end of the lever pivots about a pin which is attached to the side walls of the hollow body member. The free end of the lever projects through the open end of the body member to coact with the lip to hold a ring firmly in place when the lever member is forced, by a screw adjustment, away from said lip. The lever member is preferably springbased towards the lip.

Further description of the ring-gripping tool may be facilitated by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein FIG. I is an elevational, side view of a ring-gripping tool.

FIG. 2 is an elevational, end view of the tool depicted in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view along section E lines 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a partial, segmented, plan view of the ringgripping end of the tool of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the sliding si2eadjustment portion of the tool of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary, perspective view of the saddle portion of ring gripping portion of the tool.

The tool depicted as FIG. I is a preferred embodiment in which a hollow, body member 10 has disposed within it a lever II pivotally attached to a pin 12 which is affixed to the body member. A saddle member 13 is affixed to the free end of the lever member 11. The saddle member 13 is adapted to fit within a finger ring and provide a large surface contact with most rings which the tool holds.

The device of FIG. I is illustrated with size adjustment slide 14 in the forward position, which is the position for aecomodating larger rings, e.g. mens rings. Size adjustment slide 14 is positioned to the rear to expose lip 15, which is best viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4. Lip 15 is utilized in conjunction with saddle 13 to grip smaller sizes of rings, e.g. ladies rings.

The cylindrical body member 10 preferably has a length of about five to about eight inches so that the tool has good balance. The outside diameter of the cylindrical body member is preferably about five-eighths of an inch inasmuch as the lip 15 is a projection of the body. As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 the lip 15 and slide 14 each have a slot 17 and 18 extending from their outer edge inwardly for a short distance e.g., a distance of from about one-eighth to about three-eighths inch. The slots 17 and 18 are about one-eighth to about onefourth inch with a width of about three-sixteenths inch preferred. The purpose of the slot is to provide two point contact between the ring being held and the lip 14 and the slide 15 since the radius of curvature of lip 14 or slide 15 is less than the radii of curvature of rings being held, only a single point of contact occurs without such slots.

Lever 11 is biased towards lip 15 by a spring 19. Lever 11 is forcibly moved against a ring by adjustment screw 20 which is threaded through a threaded block 21 which is secured to the sidewall of the cylindrical body member 10. Lever 11 is pivoted on a pin 12 which is preferably located approximately midway between the ends of the hollow body member 10. The length of lever 11 is preferably at least about one-half the length of body member 11. A shorter lever arm results in an undesirable non-parallel condition to exist between the uppermost surface of saddle l3 and lip 15 or slide 14. Since the upward movement of saddle 13 away from lip 15 describes an arc, the longer the radius of that are. the fewer degrees of arc exists for a given length of are.

A lever approximately 3 inches long describes an arc of approximately 10 as its free end travels an arc of approximately one-half inch in length. Thus, if the longitudinal, uppermost surface of saddle 13 is parallel to the longitudinal, outermost surface of lip 15, which is parallel to the longitudinal, central axis of the cylindrical body member, when lever 11 is in its closest position to lip 15, then the longitudinal, uppermost surface of saddle 13 will be inclined at an angle of about l0 from the central, longitudinal axis of the body member when lever 11 is at its farthest position from lip 15. A preferred construction is to incline saddle 13 a few degrees out of parallel to the straight portion of lever 11 so that the maximum angle of non-parallelism between saddle 13 and lip 15 is about 5 regardless of the position of lever 11.

Screw 20 makes a bearing contact at the underneath side of lever 11 to force lever 11 away from lip 15. As indicated heretofore, the radius of curvature of lip 15 is preferably no greater than the inner radius of the smallest ladies ring the tool is to accomodate. The travel of saddle 13 from its closest position to lip 15 to its farthest position from lip 15 is less than about onehalf inch. The curvature of lip 15 is illustrated in FIG. 2. Although a curved lip could be affixed to a body member having a square or rectangular cross-section, it is preferred that lip 15 be an integral portion of body member and thus possess the same radius of curvature as the cylindrical body. Screw preferably contacts lever 11 near the longitudinal mid-portion of lever 11. If screw 20 is placed too close to lip 15, it interferes with slide 14 and also requires a longer travel to accomplish the maximum displacement of saddle 13. 1f screw 20 is placed too close to pin 12 then lever 11 requires a heavier cross-section to prevent flexing at maximum pressure of saddle 13 against a ring being gripped. Screw 20 is easily adjusted by turning knob 22 with the finger of the same hand gripping handle portion 16.

Lip 15, slide 14 and saddle 13 all have curvatures which are transverse to the central longitudinal axis of the hollow cylindrical body member. The outer or ring contacting surface of lip 15 and saddle 13 preferably possess radii of curvatures smaller than the smallest ring which the tool is to hold. The radius of curvature for lip 15 and for saddle 13 is generally from about onefourth to about three-eighths inch and preferably not in excess of five-sixteenths. The radius of curvature of the outer surface of slide 14 is generally from about fivesixteenths to about one-half inch. Slide member 14 is preferably a portion of a cylinder which is concentric with the cylindrical body member so that the inner surface of slide 14 mates well with the outer surface of lip 15.

Slide 15 slides along the outer surface of lip 15 to expose a sufficient length of lip 15 to contact a finger ring. Slide 18 is held in contact with lip 15 by a screw which fits within an elongated slot which permits slide 14 to slide to a position coextensive with lip 15.

Both slide 14 and lip 15 have elongated slots extending a short ways longitudinally from the forward edge of each. The slots, which may be depressions, serve to interrupt the smooth outer surfaces of lip 15 and slide 14 to provide a pair of ring-gripping edges. Slot 17 or lip 15 and slot 18 in slide 14 each provide opposed, parallel straight edges which tend to grip the interior surface of a finger ring inasmuch as the interior radius of curvature of the ring is generally larger than the radius of curvature of the ring contacting surface.

The ring-gripping tool of this invention is particularly useful inasmuch as it is light, is easily adjusted with one hand to grip a ring being held with the other hand, and can be easily adapted to fit any standard sized ladies or mens ring.

I claim:

1. A ring-gripping tool for holding a finger ring in position for polishing comprising a. a hollow, cylindrical, elongated body member, said body member having an open end at one end and a handle portion at the opposite end,

b. a lip member having a curved ring-contacting outer surface projecting beyond at least a portion of said open end of said hollow body member,

c. a lever member disposed with said hollow body member, one end of said lever member pivotally attached to said hollow body member and a free end of said lever member extending from said open end of said hollow body member, said free end of said lever member being substantially coextensive with the farthest projecting edge of said lip member,

d. a saddle member having a ring-contacting outer surface, said saddle member attached to the free end of said lever member,

e. an adjustment screw threaded through the sidewall of said hollow body member to contact said lever member to force said free end of said lever member away from said lip member to cause said saddle member to coact with said lip member to hold a finger ring in position for polishing.

2. The tool of claim 1 wherein the cylindrical body member is a slender cylinder having an outer diameter less than about three-fourths inch.

3. The tool of claim 1 wherein said saddle member is curved in a direction transverse to the central longitudinal axis of said body member.

4. The tool of claim 3 wherein said radius of curvature of said saddle member is less than about threeeighth inch.

5. The tool of claim 1 wherein the length of travel of the free end of said lever is not greater than one-half inch.

6. The tool of claim 1 wherein the lip member has a curved outer surface transverse to the central longitudinal axis of said hollow body member, said curved surface having a radius of curvature no greater than the inner radius of the smallest ring which the tool is adapted to hold.

7. The tool of claim 1 wherein a slide member having a curved, ring-contacting outer surface and an inner, curved surface adapted to mate with the outer curved surface of the lip member is slidably attached to the body member to slide to a position coextensive with said lip member and to coact with said saddle member to hold a finger ring in position for polishing.

8. The tool of claim 1 wherein said lip member has a longitudinal depression extending rearwardly from the forward edge of said lip member for a sufficient dis tance to provide two ring-gripping edges in the ringcontacting outer surface of said lip member.

9. The tool of claim 8 wherein said longitudinal depression is a longitudinal slot.

10. The tool of claim 7 wherein said slide member has a longitudinal depression extending rearwardly from the forward edge of said slide member for a sufficient distance to provide two ring-gripping edges in the ring-contacting outer surface of said slide member.

1 l. The tool of claim 10 wherein said longitudinal depression is a longitudinal slot.

12. The tool of claim 1 wherein said lever is spring biased towards said lip member.

13. The tool of claim 1 wherein said lever is pivotally attached to said hollow body member by pin means near the longitudinal midpoint of said hollow body member. 

1. A ring-gripping tool for holding a finger ring in position for polishing comprising a. a hollow, cylindrical, elongated body member, said body member having an open end at one end and a handle portion at the opposite end, b. a lip member having a curved ring-contacting outer surface projecting beyond at least a portion of said open end of said hollow body member, c. a lever member disposed with said hollow body member, one end of said lever member pivotally attached to said hollow body member and a free end of said lever member extending from said open end of said hollow body member, said free end of said lever member being substantially coextensive with the farthest projecting edge of said lip member, d. a saddle member having a ring-contacting outer surface, said saddle member attached to the free end of said lever member, e. an adjustment screw threaded through the sidewall of said hollow body member to contact said lever member to force said free end of said lever member away from said lip member to cause said saddle member to coact with said lip member to hold a finger ring in position for polishing.
 2. The tool of claim 1 wherein the cylindrical body member is a slender cylinder having an outer diameter less than about three-fourths inch.
 3. The tool of claim 1 wherein said saddle member is curved in a direction transverse to the central longItudinal axis of said body member.
 4. The tool of claim 3 wherein said radius of curvature of said saddle member is less than about three-eighth inch.
 5. The tool of claim 1 wherein the length of travel of the free end of said lever is not greater than one-half inch.
 6. The tool of claim 1 wherein the lip member has a curved outer surface transverse to the central longitudinal axis of said hollow body member, said curved surface having a radius of curvature no greater than the inner radius of the smallest ring which the tool is adapted to hold.
 7. The tool of claim 1 wherein a slide member having a curved, ring-contacting outer surface and an inner, curved surface adapted to mate with the outer curved surface of the lip member is slidably attached to the body member to slide to a position coextensive with said lip member and to coact with said saddle member to hold a finger ring in position for polishing.
 8. The tool of claim 1 wherein said lip member has a longitudinal depression extending rearwardly from the forward edge of said lip member for a sufficient distance to provide two ring-gripping edges in the ring-contacting outer surface of said lip member.
 9. The tool of claim 8 wherein said longitudinal depression is a longitudinal slot.
 10. The tool of claim 7 wherein said slide member has a longitudinal depression extending rearwardly from the forward edge of said slide member for a sufficient distance to provide two ring-gripping edges in the ring-contacting outer surface of said slide member.
 11. The tool of claim 10 wherein said longitudinal depression is a longitudinal slot.
 12. The tool of claim 1 wherein said lever is spring biased towards said lip member.
 13. The tool of claim 1 wherein said lever is pivotally attached to said hollow body member by pin means near the longitudinal midpoint of said hollow body member. 